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Sibling owners Emily and Melissa Elsen have serious pie-making cred, having grown up in the family restaurant in Hecla, South Dakota, at the dough-rolling elbow of their grandmother Elizabeth. Before opening Four & Twenty, they were custom-baking out of their Crown Heights apartment, but having deemed the burgeoning Third Avenue strip in need of a local coffee shop, they’ve made their operation official. Unlike their lard-loving grandma, the sisters prefer the flavor of butter crusts and make theirs by hand; their fruits are often local, and frozen or preserved for off-season use. There are also daily savory galettes made with market vegetables, and once the demand for the pies (which come in a wide variety, from shoofly to lavender-blueberry) lessens, the  Elsens plan to serve breakfast pastries, quiche, soups, salads, sandwiches, and all manner of sweets, plus Irving Farm coffee.  But pie is the thing, a sign of these recessionary, homespun times—something you can’t really say about a macaron. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

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